Already a member?
Sign in
Welcome! Wikis are websites that everyone can build together. It's easy!
Location: Nakasendo English Conference Home
Discussion: Conference and workshops as professional development
Keyword tags:
community
conference
discussion
English
professional-development
qualifications
wiki
Watch
 mickstout |
Conference and workshops as professional development
Mar 12 2008, 6:04 PM EDT How can we encourage school administrators, Boards of Education, and the Ministry of Education to give teachers some kind of credit for attending conferences and professional development workshops? 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
 KantoCanuck |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Mar 15 2008, 9:47 PM EDT In the past few years, JTEs have had to start going through a 're-qualification' process that consists of workshops and lessons. These sessions usually consist of ten full days during the summer months. If a board of education could be convinced that a conference would be beneficial to a JTE re-qualification, they might willing to offer some sort of credit. It is something that would be worth exploring further. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
|
mickstout |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Mar 15 2008, 11:24 PM EDT How do you suggest this be expolored? Do you find this valuable? |
|
Anonymous |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Mar 16 2008, 12:20 AM EDT Most likely BOEs will not be too favourable in allowing JTEs to attend conferences for credit if the presentations do not focus on the needs of the the JTEs, or what the BOEs feel the needs are. Most JTEs, NETs, and JATs I talked to after a presentation that we had to attend in December did hold the presenter or topic in high regard. The presenter was an academic who had never taught at the secondary school level before, and was spewing theory throughout the entire proceedings. In fact, any question asked by the audience regarding concerns in the classroom or with the curriculum were never answered. If a conference had an even balance of workshops and presentations, then most likely all parties would be in favour of the idea. Conference organizers would have to approach BOEs in the early planning stages to find out what sort of workshops and presentation topics would be of use to the JTEs for them to gain credit. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
|
KantoCanuck |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Mar 16 2008, 12:21 AM EDT Oops, that was my reply. Damn sign in thing! Do you find this valuable? |
|
MarthaMac MarthaMac |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Mar 18 2008, 3:51 AM EDT AJET meets with MEXT, CLAIR, and MOFA every year. We present reports about issues in education. We often concentrate on JET and JTE professional development. Prehaps this is an issue AJET could bring to a future meeting. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
 Arangadillo |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Mar 31 2008, 5:52 PM EDT I don't think any credit should be given for attending conferences and workshops because in my situation it is mandatory for me to attend. It's just a part of my job. If there are any optional conferences and workshops that I attend, maybe it would be nice if the BOE let me share what I learned in a meeting with some JTEs. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
|
mickstout |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Mar 31 2008, 6:22 PM EDT So attendence at workshops and conferences is part of teh job. Excellent. Which workshops? Which conferences? Why doesn't the BOE let you share what you learn with JTEs? Do you find this valuable? |
|
Anonymous |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Mar 31 2008, 8:57 PM EDT I find it really strange that conferences and workshops don't count as professional development. If you attend workshops that make you a better professional then why shouldn't you get some credit for that? When I attended PD workshops in Canada I always got a certificate or something to put on my resume. People should get credit for extra training. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
|
Arangadillo |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Apr 1 2008, 4:37 AM EDT In my prefecture we have 3 conferences a year that are all mandatory. The workshops consist of various topics from teaching method to over coming discipline problems with students. To be honest I don't know why my BOE hasn't "officially" asked me to share what I have learned. I always took it upon my self to do it after school or during a free period. However, it would be nice if I actually had the responsibility to share what was taught, and have a discussion with my co-workers. This all being official of course. With this added responsibility I feel that an ALT will undoubtedly earn some credit. However, listening and asking a few questions is a bit too easy for me to expect anything more than a days wages. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
|
KantoCanuck |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Apr 12 2008, 1:21 AM EDT "How can we encourage school administrators, Boards of Education, and the Ministry of Education to give teachers some kind of credit for attending conferences and professional development workshops?"I was just thinking about your question regarding the possibility of BOEs giving JTEs credit for attending workshops and presentations. Considering the Nakasendo Mini-conference is being held in Saitama City, why not present the idea to the city BOE? 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
|
mickstout |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Apr 12 2008, 1:38 AM EDT Great idea. How do you suggest we do that? Do you find this valuable? |
|
KantoCanuck |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
Apr 12 2008, 4:27 AM EDT I'll send you the key person's name and contact information. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |
|
sarahlouisa1 sarahlouisa1 |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
May 18 2008, 8:13 PM EDT Just to let you know, an official Nakasendo letter went out to Saitama BOE, Gunma BOE and Tochigo BOE explaining about the conference and inviting them and their teachers. Also, don't forget that it's not just BOEs who are responsible for allowing their native speaker teachers to conferences/workshops, many outsourcing companies now control the working hours of a lot of ALTs, therefore, they also need to be made aware of these kinds of conferences and the benefits of them for their teachers. The conference committee has also sent out letters and emails to these organizations too as they are also part of the teaching community. Do you find this valuable? |
|
KantoCanuck |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
May 19 2008, 2:49 AM EDT Having talked with many of the outsourced (brokered) ALTs that work in the Saitama BOE schools, I can make the assumption that the vast majority of them will likely will not want to attend any weekend conference or meeting if they don't have to. The reason being is that many of the companies that are getting the ALT contracts treat their foreign employees like #&@$ and pay them in the same manner. If the brokered companies tell the brokered ALTs that they have to attend, some of them won't be paid for that day. I don't blame the brokered ALTs for not giving a damn about anything. 2 out of 2 found this valuable. Do you? |
 leanderhughes |
RE: Conference and workshops as professional development
May 31 2008, 6:27 AM EDT You've hit on a key issue here. BOEs across the nation are jumping on the outsourcing band-wagon. They are well aware of the fact that contracted teachers are less likely to participate in such things as weekend conferences (that would definitely not be paid for by those teachers' employers). However, with the extremely high turnover rate of foreign teachers, I think the BOEs believe that such professional development isn't worth it - the teachers they have now will be gone in a year or two anyway (especially if they are brokered teachers getting paid much less than direct hires to do the same job)! So it's a vicious cycle spinning faster and faster with every year. Before the problem can be solved, BOEs and MEXT will have to be convinced that there is a problem with this way of running their public English education system. 1 out of 1 found this valuable. Do you? |